Boston Tea Party (December 16, 1773) followed just three years after the Boston Massacre, where five Americans were killed by British soldiers who were commandeering homes. The British then began imposing on the Colonies taxation, which eventually became unbearable.
Early in the year of 1773, the men of Marlborough, Massachusetts, declared unanimously:
<Death is more eligible than slavery. A free-born people are not required by the religion of Jesus Christ to submit to tyranny, but may make use of such power as God has given them to recover and support their laws and liberties... [We] implore the Ruler above the skies, that He would make bare His arm in defense of His Church and people, and let Israel go.> 1773TP001
The Colonists in Boston responded to the intolerable taxes imposed by the British. A band of citizens, disguised as Indians, threw the cargo of 342 chests of tea from a British East India Company ship into the Boston Harbor.
In 1774, the Parliament of Great Britain decided to blockade the Boston harbor by passing the Boston Port Bill, thus destroying all trade and effectively starving the inhabitants of the city.
The Committee of Correspondence sent word of their plight to the rest of the Colonies, who responded by calling for a Day of Fasting and Prayer on June 1, 1774, (the day the blockade would begin). This was done in order:
<...to seek divine direction and aid.> 1773TP002
The towns, cities and surrounding Colonies began sending their support. In August of 1774, William Prescott led the men of Pepperell, Massachusetts, to deliver many loads of rye. He wrote to the men of Boston:
<We heartily sympathize with you, and are always ready to do all in our power for your support, comfort and relief; knowing that Providence has placed you where you must stand the first shock. We consider we are all embarked in [the same ship] and must sink or swim together. We think if we submit to these regulations, all is gone.
Our forefathers passed the vast Atlantic, spent their blood and treasure, that they might enjoy their liberties, both civil and religious, and transmit them to their posterity....Now if we should give them up, can our children rise up and call us blessed?....
Let us all be of one heart, and stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free; and may he, of his infinite mercy grant us deliverance out of all our troubles.> 1773TP003
The inhabitants of Boston responded to this encouraging support by declaring:
<The Christian sympathy and generosity of our friends through the Continent cannot fail to inspire the inhabitants of this town with patience, resignation, and firmness, while we trust in the Supreme Ruler of the universe, that he will graciously hear our cries, and in his time free us from our present bondage and make us rejoice in his great salvation.> 1773TP004
Josiah Quincy, the American orator of freedom, voiced the Colonists' sentiments in 1774:
<Blandishments will not fascinate us, nor will threats of a "halter" intimidate. For, under God, we are determined that wheresoever, whensoever, or howsoever we shall be called to make our exit, we will die free men.> 1773TP005
The Colonists grew in their resilience and confidence in God, to the point where one Crown-appointed Governor wrote of the condition to the Board of Trade back in England:
<If you ask an American, who is his master? He will tell you he has none, nor any governor but Jesus Christ.> 1773TP006
The Committees of Correspondence soon began sounding the cry across the Colonies:
<No King but King Jesus!> 1773TP007
This was echoed in Thomas Paine's pamphlet, Common Sense, January 10, 1776:
<Where, say some, is the king of America? I'll tell you, friend, he reigns above.> 1773TP008
Samuel Adams, as the parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence was signed, August 2, 1776, stated:
<We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come.> 1773TP009
As a result of this crisis, the Colonies joined together in Philadelphia for the first Continental Congress on September 5, 1774.
On October 22, 1774, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, which met in Boston, began to voice their serious concerns, as President John Hancock declared:
<We think it is incumbent upon this people to humble themselves before God on account of their sins, for He hath been pleased in His righteous judgment to suffer a great calamity to befall us, as the present controversy between Great Britain and the Colonies.
[And] also to implore the Divine Blessing upon us, that by the assistance of His grace, we may be enabled to reform whatever is amiss among us, that so God may be pleased to continue to us the blessings we enjoy, and remove the tokens of His displeasure, by causing harmony and union to be restored between Great Britain and the Colonies.> 1773TP010
In 1774, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress issued a Resolution to the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay:
<Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual....Continue steadfast, and with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.> 1773TP011
In 1774, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress reorganized the Massachusetts militia, providing that over one-third of all new regiments be made up of "Minutemen." The Minutemen, known as such because they would be ready to fight at a minute's notice, would drill as citizen soldiers on the parade-ground, then go to the church to hear exhortation and prayer. Many times the deacon of the church, or even the pastor, would lead the drill. They proclaimed, "Our cause is just" and believed it was their Christian duty to defend it. The Massachusetts Provincial Congress charged the minutemen:
<You...are placed by Providence in the post of honor, because it is the post of danger....The eyes not only of North America and the whole British
Empire, but of all Europe, are upon you. Let us be, therefore, altogether solicitous that no disorderly behavior, nothing unbecoming our characters as Americans, as citizens and Christians, be justly chargeable to us.> 1773TP012
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1773TP001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Boston Tea Party. 1773, in a unanimous declaration by the men of Marlborough, Massachusetts. Charles E. Kistler, This Nation Under God (Boston: Richard G. Badger, The Gorham Press, 1924), p. 56. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg's Heart 'N Home, Inc., 1991), 1.2.
1773TP002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Boston Tea Party. June 1, 1774, in a Day of Fasting and Prayer issued by the Colonies, following the Committee of Correspondence report of the passage of the Boston Port Bill. Verna M. Hall and Rosalie J. Slater, The Bible and the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1983), p. 31.
1773TP003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Boston Tea Party. August 1774, William Prescott's statement to the inhabitants of Boston while delivering supplies from Pepperell, Massachusetts. George Bancroft, History of the United States of America, 6 vols. (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1838; 1859, Third Edition), Vol. VII, p. 99. Lucille Johnston, Celebrations of a Nation (Arlington, VA: The Year of Thanksgiving Foundation, 1987), p. 76. Peter Marshall, & David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg's Heart 'N Home, 1991), 7.27.
1773TP004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Boston Tea Party. 1774, inhabitants of Boston, Massachusetts, responding to the support given by the other Colonies. Verna M. Hall and Rosalie J. Slater, The Bible and the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1983), p. 31.
1773TP005. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Boston Tea Party. 1774, Josiah Quincy speaking in response to the Boston Port Bill, in which the British closed the Boston harbor. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 393. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg's Heart'N Home, Inc., 1991), 2.10.
1773TP006. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Boston Tea Party. 1774, report of the Crown-appointed Governor of Boston, Massachusetts, sent to the Board of Trade in England. Hezekiah Niles, Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America (Baltimore: William Ogden Niles, 1822), p. 418.
1773TP007. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Boston Tea Party. 1774, colonial motto issued through the Committees of Correspondence from Boston, Massachusetts. Peter Powers' Election Sermon titled Jesus Christ the King (Newburyport, 1778). Clifford K. Shipton, Sibley's Harvard Graduates (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1965), Vol. XIII, pp. 475-476. Cushing Strout, The New Heavens and the New Earth (NY: Harper & Row, 1974), p. 59.
1773TP008. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Paine, pamphlet, Common Sense, January 10, 1776.
1773TP009. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Samuel Adams, signing parchment copy of Declaration of Independence, August 2, 1776.
1773TP010. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Boston Tea Party. October 22, 1774, a Proclamation of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, signed by President John Hancock. George Bancroft, Bancroft's History of the United States, 10 vols. (Boston: Charles C. Little & James Brown, 1838), Vol. VII, p. 229. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Light and the Glory (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1977), p. 269. D.P. Diffine, Ph.D., One Nation Under God-How Close a Separation? (Searcy, Arkansas: Harding University, Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, 6th edition, 1992), pp. 5-6. Continental Congress met for first time, September 5, 1774. Verna M. Hall and Rosalie J. Slater, The Bible and the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1983), p. 31.
1773TP011. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Boston Tea Party. 1774, in a Resolution issued by the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts to the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay. George Bancroft, Bancroft's History of the United States, 10 vols. (Boston: Charles C. Little & James Brown, 1838), Vol. VII, p. 229. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Light and the Glory (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1977), p. 269. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg's Heart'N Home, Inc., 1991), 8.31.
1773TP012. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Boston Tea Party. 1774, Minutemen of the Massachusetts Militia, organized by order of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. Richard Frothingham, Rise of the Republic of the United States (Boston: Little Brown & Co., 1872), pp. 393, 458. Provincial Congress of Massachusetts gave charge to the Minutemen of the Massachusetts Militia by the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. Richard Frothingham, Rise of the Republic of the United States (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1872), p. 393.